The invention describes a production method for portable data carriers.
Portable data carriers, such as e.g. SIM cards, credit cards, health cards, identity cards, etc. are normally produced by an injection-molding method or lamination method.
SIM cards are as a rule produced by an injection-molding method, which is very expensive and means high material expenditure. The high expenditure results from the circumstance that SIM cards are frequently broken out from cards in the ID-1 format. After the SIM card is broken out, the largest part of the ID-1 card is consequently discarded. Moreover, the production of credit cards for example is quasi a single-part production. The quasi single-part production results in a sequential manual processing, which is very time-consuming and cost-intensive.
During the production of portable data carriers by means of a lamination method the components of the data carriers are subjected to great stress due to high temperatures, e.g. of 120 to 160 degrees Celsius, and high pressures, e.g. of 100 to 250 bar. This frequently leads to a damage of the components such as e.g. antenna coils, chips. Components that are sensitive to such stresses, such as e.g. display elements, consequently cannot be processed by means of a lamination method. Further, the lamination method takes a relatively long time until the various foil layers are permanently bonded with each other under pressure and temperature.